What's Up Wednesday

 

We have redeemed ourselves this week with six days of riding all in a row! Back to normal! Mother nature played nice (kinda) and held the rain for non riding times like Monday and overnights. We have had a LOT of rain lately though so we've just been flatting due to squishy footing. 

I don't really have much to report on honestly. Things are pretty steady around here. 

Al is doing well on his new meds and I actually kind of feel like we're making some progress. His labs came back yesterday negative for EPM and Lyme, though the third value on the Lyme test is elevated which means he's had an exposure. My one vet doesn't feel we need to treat at this time, but I may anyway just based on past history. I am going to run it by my other vet for a second opinion and see what he thinks. He had mentioned at our last visit that he had a horse that behaved much like Al and they ran a course of high dose IV antibiotics and the horse was cured of his weird spooky behaviors. So I dunno. Could be the thing. Might not be. The tricky part with that treatment is that a vet has to administer the meds every day for however long they need it. (I forget how long it is.) Which might not be possible without sending him off to stay with the vet. Which isn't out of the question or anything, but it is expensive. So we'll see what he thinks when he sees the lab results. 

Eros still feels the same to me. I can't say that he feels lame, I don't think that's what I'm feeling. But he comes out pretty stiff in a different way that his normal, and his stride feels quite small. He does improve the longer he moves around, but I'm still being very mindful with how much we do. His Lyme titer came back in normal ranges across the board. On the one hand I expected that because he did feel like a new horse after the round of Doxy he had this summer. But on the other hand, I was kind of hoping I could blame this latest NQR-ness on Lyme. But we also ran an EPM titer. He came back with a very low positive for both values that they test for. Again this vet is comfortable not treating right now, but I'm not sure if I agree. He has been toe dragging which isn't unusual for him per se... but my farrier made a comment about how much his feet were worn the last time he was out which suggests to me that it's more than normal. That paired with his being kind of meh makes me think it might be worth doing a course of Toltrazuril. Like with Al and the Lyme, I will also run this by my other vet for a second opinion. Where with Al I'm not as positive treatment is warranted, I feel a little more strongly for Eros. But I'm not a vet, and I do trust BOTH my vets very much. So I'll see what they both have to say before making any decisions.

I had no reason to really suspect that Shiny had anything going on, but figured I'd pull both titers for her too because it's good to have a baseline. Her numbers came back great on both tests so that's wonderful. She's still a little on the unmotivated side these days, but like... Same girl. Same. Autumn will do that to you. I really need to start thinking about body clipping her. She's probably a little hot under her mountain goat coat that she's already grown. I actually did pop her over a handful of little jumps over the weekend. I think she enjoyed that. But not as much as she likes walking around the backyard. 

I'm focusing very hard these days on taking a deep breath and enjoying my horses and the barn work, and not stressing about how I'm not doing things "right" or I'm taking too long, or whatever other thing I've been letting get to me all summer. And honestly, I think it's working. I've been looking forward to riding each of them (most days) and not stressing about what time I get finished actually has me getting done earlier many days. Funny how that works isn't it? I'm also trying to do something fun once in awhile that's not horse related. 

So this weekend, I joined my best friend since childhood for dinner and then a show. It was a one man Edgar Allan Poe show that took place in a historic home. 

They required the audience be masked

Each audience is only 16 people max, so it was very intimate, and a lot of fun! (It was also inexpensive, which is my favorite kind of show.) I think as the days get shorter and the temps get colder it will be important to stay on top of making myself do fun things like this on occasion. To try and keep the seasonal depression at bay, ya know? 

Next week I have dinner plans with another friend plus it's Halloween on Friday, so those are definitely things to look forward to! I'm also hoping to have a jump day with Al and Shiny later this week or this weekend. The rain should stay away until next week, so it could happen! Other than that, not too much happening. 

How about all of you? Are things slowing down for you guys too? Or are you still full steam ahead with training?